Dying Days 2 by Armand Rosamilia Read Free Book Online Page B

me."
    "You can communicate?" he asked.
    "I'm not dead. Look at my chest. I'm breathing. I'm talking. I need to pee."
    He put his hand to his face and stroked his thin beard.
    "What are you waiting for?" she asked.
    "I have some questions before I let you go. Fair enough?"
    "Fair enough?" she asked incredulously. "You have me strapped to a fucking chair."
    "Do you suffer from Tourette syndrome?"
    Darlene laughed and relaxed. "No, I just find the need to curse like a trucker when some madman straps me to a table. Weird, I know."
    "I'm Madman."
    "I know."
    "No, no, you don't understand. My nickname is Madman."
    "Should I even ask why?"
    He leaned on the table near her right side and smiled. "It was back in high school, during chemistry class. The teacher handed out contact information sheets, things like that. One of the questions was your nickname. I put Madman."
    "Why?"
    He laughed. "Why not? It was funny; I was a kid and the name followed me for years. Everyone from high school still calls me Madman."
    "Did you legally change your name?"
    He looked confused. "No."
    "Then what's your real fucking name? And when the fuck are you going to get me off this table?"
    "I'm Russell, but my friends call me Russ."
    "I guess you're a doctor of some sort."
    "Me? Nope. I'm a computer programmer."
    Darlene sighed. "That makes perfect sense with the day I'm having."
    Russ put a hand on the strap holding her feet and stopped. "You've been bitten."
    "I'm aware of that. My shoulder is killing me."
    He tapped her ankle. "You were bitten before, an older wound. Yet, you live."
    "I'm a modern fucking miracle, doc. Of course, if I lose any more circulation in my legs, you'll be amputating them anyway."
    "I hesitate to unleash you. What if you are the next generation in the undead evolution?"
    Darlene smiled at him. "Then we're all royally fucked."
    "I suppose so." He un-strapped her, but she was too weak to move. "You've lost too much blood. I need to tend that wound as well."
    Darlene's head started o swim and she closed her eyes. "I need to rest."
    "I'll get you a pillow and blanket. You sleep while I fix you up."
    "You're sure you're not a doctor?"
    Madman smiled. "Yes, but tonight I'm the best thing you've got."
     
    *   *   *   *   *
     
    "Who's the redhead?" Tosha asked Ellen, trading a makeup bag for a shot of Absolut. She sucked it down, loving the burn down her throat.
    "She's from the outpost at Matanzas Inlet, to the south. Why?" Ellen said and smiled. "Jealous?"
    "Fuck that." Tosha snorted. "There's just one too many redheads in this bar tonight, and its slim pickings to begin with."
    Ellen took the shot glass and cleaned it with a rag. "She'll be gone in the morning, and then you can have the bar to dick-tease all yourself."
    Tosha laughed. "True. Can I get another shot?"
    "Sure." Ellen smiled. "Whatcha got to trade for it?"
    Tosha searched her pockets. By the time she'd gotten back to Flagler College, everyone was already gone and the kid's trail ended in town. But she was no mystical tracker who could follow someone on pavement. He was gone, but she'd find him.
    "I don't have anything, but I'm good for it. They still owe me for today."
    Ellen shook her head. "I'm sorry, Red, but I can't extend any more credit to anyone. I'm running out of everything. To be honest, I'll only be taking food after tonight."
    "Shit. They're not giving out food to us anymore."
    Ellen sighed. "I've got enough jewelry to open my own store. I don't even wear jewelry."
    "There were refugees turned away this morning, I hear." Tosha stared at the new bitch, watching her as these idiots stumbled over one another and traded everything they carried to buy her a drink. "It's getting bad again. Too many of us in such a cramped space and no real crops to grow."
    "What about the livestock?" Ellen asked.
    Tosha shook her head. "Some idiot decided to kill the cows. Remember the big feast we had two weeks ago next to the college? That was the last of the meat.